Thursday, October 23, 2008

I've been reading about a new natural sweetener called Truvia (also known as Rebiana) that's supposed to be available in stores sometime this fall (you can buy it online and it's supposed to be available in certain stores in NY already). It sounds like it has promise, especially for those of you who do not like the taste of Splenda and are concerned with how Splenda is made along with any after taste. I personally do not have a problem with Splenda, but I find this new Truvia sweetener quite intriguing. I ordered a box this morning, so I haven't tasted it yet, but I will come back and give you an update as soon as I have.

The reviews I've read from people who have tasted it are promising. There's supposedly no after taste like Splenda and no bitter taste like Stevia (even though Truvia does come from the leaves of the Stevia plant, a shrub native to South America). The following is from WebMD....

"Truvia is the first stevia product that isn't labeled a "dietary supplement," the classification that the FDA has, up until now, required of all stevia products because of safety concerns from some, but not all, studies done mainly on animals.

In Cargill and Coca-Cola funded studies, Truvia showed no sign of health problems. For instance, it didn't affect blood pressure in healthy people or blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Further tests in rats show no effects on reproduction, fertility, or other health problems. Those studies recently appeared in Food and Chemical Toxicology.

Truvia is being sold as a tabletop sweetener and will be an ingredient in certain Coca-Cola drinks. It's not yet ready for use in baking.

Pepsi is also working on its own stevia sweetener. No head-to-head trials have been done on stevia vs. other no-calorie sweeteners, such as NutraSweet, Splenda, and Sweet'N Low."

"A box of 40 green and white packets of Truvia will have a suggested retail price of $3.99, which Snyder said is a little more expensive than older, artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose, which are sold under the respective brand names of Sweet'N Low, NutraSweet and Equal, and Splenda, which is made by Tate & Lyle Plc."

We all know how I enjoy YouTube videos, so I'll leave you with a few videos to watch about Truvia. I can't wait to try it. :)

Don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter. Sometimes I post a couple of lines each day if you want to know what I'm doing. ;)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Monday, October 6, 2008

I came across a "How To" video website today called HowCast.com. It's founded by former YouTube and Google employees. The site features 7,500 instructional mini-films with entertaining answers to nagging questions. Some of you may already know about it, but it's new to me, so I'm sharing anyway. :) I was just messing around and came across this video...

Don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter. Sometimes I post a couple of lines each day if you want to know what I'm doing. ;)